By: Maddy Bellew

Models, Victoria’s Secret posters, athletes, and those stick thin girls we see at school who eat McDonalds every day and still manage to maintain what society deems “the perfect body”; all these and more are reasons for anorexia, bulimia, and many a crying session. (And in my case, a lot of wasted pumpkin ice cream.)

In my seventeen years on this planet, if there’s one thing I have held on to, it’s that you need to sing Cee Lo Green’s “Forget You” to anyone or anything that makes you feel incompetent or not good enough. Through all the pain and heartache of not being accepted, (which I am very familiar with) there is a silver lining. And that silver lining is that there is not one person on this Earth 100 percent like you.

You are an original piece hand-crafted by the big guy upstairs, (or whoever is up there). If you made something beautiful that you loved and were proud of, would you like it if someone had the idea to change it into whatever some jerk somewhere decided was “socially acceptable”? No. You would be disappointed and hurt right? Right.

I learned to love myself and all of my flaws. I’m not afraid of myself like I used to be. I went through phases like every teenager. I ignored my guilty pleasure foods and taking a load off on the couch in front of my favorite TV show. I constantly did sit-ups and crunches. I never touched cookie dough ice cream. But you know what? I was miserable.

I shut myself down because of what other people said about or to me. I stopped reaching out to random people just to say a friendly “hello” even if I didn’t know them that well or had not seen them in forever. I was empty; literally empty, because I had no food in my belly and no love in my heart.

So you know what this stupid girl did? She got a nice big pint of pumpkin ice cream and sat down on the couch and enjoyed her favorite movie.

A very smart boy once told me, “I’d rather be weird than like all these ‘chads’,” (Urban Dictionary search a “chad” if you don’t know what that is, promise you’ll laugh). And that is probably one of the best character traits I could ever come across. Those kinds of people are the ones to keep around.

I love myself for all the bumps, bulges, and places that touch. And I hope that reading this made you feel beautiful because that’s what you deserve. Be like me, in that respect, ladies and gents. Remember this little story the next time you feel like cutting, skipping a meal, or shying away from a new opportunity.

Basically, I am telling you to go in your room, blast “I’m Sexy and I Know It” and “wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle YEAH” what your mama gave you. And if anyone walks in on you, make him or her join the confidence party. Because you, my dear, are lovely.